Posted: March 21, 2011 at 9:27 pm

Oops, Legislators Weren’t Supposed to Discuss this Publicly

Congressman Dennis Rehberg and his extremist friends in the State Legislature have been going on about “sovereignty” and “nullification” all year. However, some Republicans noticed that Montana’s millionaire Congressman is pretty spendy with federal money.

Click here to listen to Republican state Rep. Jerry O’Neil say Rehberg has “fared pretty low” on protecting Montana’s sovereignty thanks to his earmark addiction.

Here is what Rep. O’Neil said about Rehberg’s big spending:

“I would think maybe one of the things that would have been rating was the legislator’s earmarks. One of the highest promoters was Denny Rehberg. And I think he would have fared pretty low as promoting our state sovereignty when he’s voting for every earmark that comes before him. So I don’t think that’s partisan. Call em’ as they are.”

Thanks, Rep. O’Neil, for calling it like it is — hope you don’t get in too much trouble. Congressman Rehberg is the number one pork addict of 2010 in the entire Congress, not to mention in the Congressional Tea Party Caucus.

Posted: December 18, 2010 at 9:17 am

T.E.A. Party’s Number One Earmarker Campaigns Against Earmarks on Taxpayer’s Dime

Here we see what looks like a pretty typical piece of sleazy campaign literature: An oversized, glossy, mailer touting the evils of earmarks. But the first problem is that it is from Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg, Citizens Against Government Waste’s Number One Porking Earmarker in Congress.

Now take a closer look. It’s not a piece of campaign literature, it’s a piece of congressional franking–paid for with our taxpayer dollars. Not only is it a clear violation of the spirit of the franking rules, if not the law itself, but it is the embodiment of wasteful government spending to campaign against wasteful spending on the taxpayers’ dime.

Indeed, Rehberg’s ethical indiscretions have been raising eyebrows and filling mailboxes for years. There’s a pretty blurry line between what is or is not a legitimate use of franking privilege, but just the message alone here makes this one cross it by a mile.

View both sides of FrankingPrivilege here.